Two people, one from Congo and the other from Uganda, have earned themselves a six-year jail term after confessing to illegal possession of firearms. Sadiki Gashendure, 29, hailing from Bunagana town, Karambo chiefdom in Rutshuru region, North Kivu area of the Eastern Vote-based Republic of Congo, and Silvani Uwirangiye, 32, a resident of Gatete town, Rwaramba ward, Nyakinama sub-province, Kisoro district were arrested on August 12, 2023.
According to the prosecution, security got information that Gashendure had crossed into Uganda from Congo through the porous borders in Bunyangaro, Nyabwishenya sub-district with a firearm. A combined team of the Uganda Police Force and Uganda People’s Defense Forces-UPDF followed him to Kisoro town, close to Stanbic Bank, where they apprehended him. Upon searching him, they recovered two hand grenades.
During the interrogations, Gashendure led security officials to his assistant, Uwiragiye, in Gatete, Kisoro town where they recovered a Submachine gun registration number 56×20019268, alongside 64 rounds of live ammunition from a banana ranch. Showing up before Kisoro Grade One Magistrate’s Court on Friday, the suspects conceded to the charges and requested for forgiveness.
In his ruling, Bob Simplex Asiimwe, the Kisoro Grade One magistrate sentenced Gashendure and Silvani Uwirangiye to serve six years in jail, saying illegal firearms jeopardize the country’s security. Elly Maate, the Kigezi Region Police Spokesperson welcomed the ruling, stressing that it would act as a deterrent to the general population against perpetrating such wrongdoings.
Kisoro has of late experienced episodes of gun violence. On October 10, 2023, Gestin Ngoga, a member of the M23 rebel movement, was captured in Kakanke town, Mupaka town in Kisoro district for ransacking Bosco Dusabe, a boda rider, at gunpoint. Ngoga, a resident of Kiwanja in Rutshuru region, North Kivu territory, the Eastern DRC held Nasasira at gunpoint and took Shillings 400,000 alongside a cell phone. UPDF and Police managed to apprehend him.
He was found in possession of an SMG rifle registration number CDFA2719381 with two magazines loaded with 55 rounds of live ammunition. He was moved to the second Division in Makenke, Mbarara City, for further management. On August 5, 2023, Bosco Dusabe, a boda rider and resident of Nyarurama town, Rutare ward, Chahi sub-province, was shot dead around 11:30 PM.
Armed assailants entered his home when Dusabe had just returned from work, shooting him in the stomach. The culprits ran away from the area, and Dusabe succumbed to excessive bleeding not long after arriving at Mutorere Hospital in Kisoro town. Emmanuel Agaba, from the same home, was arrested to aid investigations.
